Leading a 21st Century Board

The Foundation Center hosted a panel event on September 26, facilitated by Lisa Hoffman on "What is a 21st-Century Board?"  Exhale board chair Kristin Rothballer was a panelist, along with Norma Fogelberg, Board Development Chair, San Francisco Zen Center; Alison Wagonfeld, Vice President, My New Red Shoes Board; and Tim Wohlfred, Senior Project Manager, CompassPoint Nonprofit Services. 

Panelists shared a number of stories and lessons learned.  Here are some highlights from Lisa Hoffman's blog, along with recommended resources:

• On what a 21st-century Board is: Shared leadership with staff; nimbleness and flexibility; a diversity of personalities and a combination of unique skills and interests; personal connection to mission; intentional development of youth leadership for Board.
• On the qualities of a 21st-century Board member: Courage and the ability to lead; self-awareness; knowing skills, strengths and what, as board members, they can really give or not give; emotional intelligence.
• On recruiting 21st-century Board members: organization needs to have good reputation — well respected, even if there are difficulties… what group doesn’t have difficulties, especially these days?; have necessary tools when talking to potential board members — role and responsibilities, be able to talk about performance to demonstrate that your Board is high-performing; know what your current board’s key attributes are and what’s missing to recruit people who will fill gaps.
• On how a 21st-century Board chair leads: clarity about roles: Board, staff, board chair; Board chair should constantly scan organization: does it have what it needs to achieve impact, fulfill its mission… is it accountable to mission, community, funders?; Board chair should ask themselves, what can I do to support this organization to be successful?; Board chair drives accountability starting with clear expectations in the recruitment process, following through and communicating when expectations aren’t met.
• Resources recommended by the panel and participants:
• The Networked Nonprofit, by Beth Kanter
• Here Comes Everybody, by Clay Shirky
• The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations,  by Ori Brafman and Rod Beckstrom
• Harvard Business Review: http://hbr.org/
• Stanford Social Innovation Review: www.ssireview.org
• Big Gifts for Small Groups, by Andy Robinson
• Next Generation Organizations: 9 Key Traits – January 2011 (http://www.compasspoint.org/nextgenorgs) by Marla Cornelius and Tim Wolfred
• Bill Ryan, Harvard Kennedy School, I missed the specific recommendation here, perhaps its: http://sic.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail3209.html

• Best of the Board Café, Jan Masoaka
• The Board Building Cycle, Boardsource, Boardsource.org
• Board Member’s Book, Brian O’Connell
• Governance As Leadership, Richard P. Chait
• Governing Boards, Cyril Houle
• Nonprofit Boards That Work, Maureen K. Robinson, www.BoardSource.org
• Secrets of Successful Boards, Carol Weisman
• Ultimate Board Members Book, Kay Sprinkel Grace
• Boardsource.org
• CompassPoint.org